1). Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of semiconductor integrated circuits, and more particularly to a multi-gate carbon nanotube transistor.
2). Discussion of Related Art
Integrated circuits used in modern computers are formed on semiconductor wafers. The wafers are then sawed into semiconductor chips also known as microelectronic dies. Semiconductor chips include literally millions of semiconductor transistors formed on top of what was once the semiconductor wafer.
Each transistor includes a source conductor, a drain conductor, at least one gate electrode, and a semiconducting channel. The semiconducting channel will conduct electricity only when it is placed in an electric field. A voltage is constantly applied across the source and drain conductors which are separated by the channel which normally will not conduct electricity, so that the transistor is off. Current will only conduct from the source to the drain if a threshold voltage is applied to the gate electrode to create an electric field strong enough to cause the channel to conduct electricity to switch the transistor on.
The use of carbon nanotubes as channels in transistors has been studied in recent years. However, the nanotubes have not performed considerably better than traditional semiconducting channels when they are used with conventional gate structures.